Best Practices and Considerations for Conducting Research on Diet–Gut Microbiome Interactions and Their Impact on Health in Adult Populations: An Umbrella Review

Abstract

ABSTRACT Diet modulates gut microbiome composition and function. However, determining causal links between diet–gut microbiome interactions and human health is complicated by inconsistencies in the evidence, arising partially from variability in research methods and reporting. Widespread adoption of standardized best practices would advance the field but require those practices to be identified, consolidated, and discussed. This umbrella review aimed to identify recommended best practices, define existing gaps, and collate considerations for conducting research on diet–gut microbiome interactions and their impact on human health outcomes. Reviews meeting inclusion criteria and published after 2013 were identified using a systematic search. Recommendations, considerations, and gaps relating to the best practices associated with study design, participant selection, dietary intervention/assessment, biological sample collection, and data analysis and reporting were extracted and consolidated. Eight narrative reviews were included. Several general points of agreement were identified, and a recurring theme was that best practices are dependent upon the research aims, outcomes, and feasibility. Multiple gaps were also identified. Some, such as suboptimal diet assessment methods and lack of validated dietary intake biomarkers, are particularly relevant to nutrition science. Others, including defining a “healthy” gut microbiome and the absence of standardized sample and data collection/analysis protocols, were relevant specifically to gut microbiome research. Gaps specific to diet–gut microbiome research include the underrepresentation of microbiome-modulating dietary components in food databases, lack of knowledge regarding interventions eliciting changes in the gut microbiome to confer health benefits, lack of in situ measurement methods, and the need to further develop and refine statistical approaches for integrating diet and gut microbiome data. Future research and crossdisciplinary exchange will address these gaps and evolve the best practices. In the interim, the best practices and considerations discussed herein, and the publications from which that information was extracted provide a roadmap for conducting diet–gut microbiome research. This trial was registered at PROSPERO as CRD42023437645. Keywords: systematic review, research methods, study design, gut microbiota, nutrition